MyEverettNews founder to retire, seeks new owner

EVERETT — The founder of an Everett blog is looking to hand off the website to a new owner.

Leland “Lee” Dart announced he will retire from running MyEverettNews.com on Friday and put a call out for interested buyers.

“I’m not looking for a lot of money but more someone who is willing to put in the work, build relationships with people in Everett and tell quick stories and provide further links for those who want information,” Dart wrote in a Dec. 30 blog post.

Dart declined an interview with The Daily Herald, writing in an email: “I prefer telling stories not being the subject.” In a post, Dart wrote he is retiring to pursue his passion for photography. He did not specify how much he is selling MyEverettNews for or what will happen to the website if a new owner is not found.

Since 2011, MyEverettNews has served as an aggregate of hyperlocal news: breaking news, like house fires and car crashes; Dart’s photography of community features, like business openings, parades and festivals; and city news sourced from press releases. Dart covered government meetings and published a weekly series profiling Everett businesses titled “Meet the Owner.”

At any major fire or crime scene, Dart was often the first journalist to show up, carrying a camera with a zoom lens. First-responders knew him by name.

His website has been a one-man operation, financially supported through online ads and donations from readers. Articles are free to read. There was a paywall for a couple years until Dart dropped it, writing “managing it became difficult.” The blog had 1.8 million page views in 2022, according to Google Analytics data posted by Dart. Articles are also shared on Facebook where MyEverettNews has about 33,000 followers and another 14,000 on X, previously known as Twitter.

In a Facebook post, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin commented on Dart’s retirement: “Leland’s journalistic integrity and ability to seemingly be everywhere in Everett at once has made him a trusted source for news, updates and information in our city and his work will be missed.”

Dart, a lifelong Everett resident, got his start in media working as a radio personality under the name Tony Stevens. He reported the news for a little over a decade at KRKO 1380, worked various other jobs and ran an advertising agency before launching MyEverettNews. The decision to create the website was motivated by a desire to use his journalism skills to cover “things I found interesting here in my hometown,” he wrote last year. He wanted to write quick stories for an online audience “that other media ignored or wouldn’t cover if it didn’t happen weekdays 9 to 5 or they couldn’t reprint from a news release.”

Attorney Rick Merill, of Merrill Law Offices in Everett, has been a paying advertiser on MyEverettNews since the early days of the site. Merill said he knew Dart from his time in radio and trusts him as a news source. He reads the blog at least a couple times a week.

“Lee did a very good job of just reporting the facts. I could never tell you what political slant (he has). He swayed either way,” Merill said, adding “It’s a credit to him.”

Dart stayed away from editorials and political endorsements. In 2017, he ran for a nonpartisan seat on the Everett City Council but lost to Paul Roberts, 63.5% to 35.8%.

Another longtime MyEverettNews advertiser and supporter is Claudia McClain, founder of McClain Insurance Services in Everett. Responding to questions via text, she wrote: “We’ve always appreciated Lee’s laser-focus on both fun and serious events impacting our community.” She went on to to add: “MyEverettNews was clearly a labor of love for Lee and his voice will be missed.”

According to Teresa Wippel, running a hyperlocal news site isn’t easy. And she would know. She manages three of them. In 2009, she started MyEdmondsNews.com and went on to acquire MLTnews.com in Mountlake Terrace and LynnwoodToday.com.

She called the reporting on a community seven days a week “exhausting” and said any potential buyer of MyEverettNews must be willing to put in a lot of time and effort to make it work.

“Running online news is not for the faint of heart,” Wippel said. “It’s a lot of work and not a lot of monetary rewards. So the fact he’s been able to do it for 13 years is a testament to a lot of things.”

Wippel said Dart briefly talked to her about taking on his website, but she declined. She cited Everett’s distance from the coverage area of her existing sites in south Snohomish County, as well as the extra work it would take to manage MyEverettNews. At the moment, her attention is focused on fundraising and building up her organization, My Neighborhood News Network, which transitioned to nonprofit status last year.

“We have some things we have to get in order here before we think about expanding to anywhere else,” Wippel said. “But if it was going to be anywhere, it would be closer than Everett, probably.”

Wippel wants her nonprofit to be in a place to manage the sites without her, because like Dart, she too will retire someday. She hopes MyEverettNews will be able to continue without Dart.

“He has a loyal group of readers who I’m sure will miss him, and that’s the sad part about when any news organization finds itself in the process of having to shut down. And frankly, it’s the disadvantage of having a founder who doesn’t have the ability to have a transition plan,” Wippel said. “I hope he finds somebody as dedicated as he is, because the community certainly deserves that.”

MyEverettNews isn’t the only community news outlet in the area to see a recent change in ownership. Eric Marshall, who serves on the Oak Harbor City Council, sold the free newspaper Whidbey Weekly after working as its publisher for 15 years. The change went into effect Jan. 1. And last August the La Conner Weekly News was put up for sale by Ken Stern after six years of ownership, but a sale hasn’t been announced.

As for Dart, he shared his blog post on his personal Facebook with the caption: “Time to just take pictures…”

Eric Schucht: 425-339-3477; eric.schucht@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EricSchucht.